Sacrificial Bonds
by Atlantic Jewel
Summary: What will, happen when Baki's Team is sent to find three school students to be used as sacrifices to the Great God Of The Moon Of Doom? Will they fall in love? But will blood be shed, as well as tears? Check out the sequel! KankXOC
1. The Artist The Singer The 1 Whom Fights

Sacrificial Bonds

When Garaa and Kankuro are sent to the real world to retrieve three humans as sacrifices for the Moon Good (Of Doom) neither of them are prepared for what they find...

HUMOR ROMANCE ACTION

And yes, it does get slightly hentei-ish at some points, that's just life. Deal with it, or don't read it! It's entirely up to you! (Threatens with chakra enhanced sand: Read Or Die...)

Rated M (Course Language, Violence & Adult Themes - Yup, & They're Only Teenagers. How Sad...Well, Ya Gotta Learn Sometime…)

CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS

. Garaa

. Kankuro

. Temari

. Mari - Hyperactive, never shuts up. Has long honey-coloured hair and sea-green eyes. She is scared of the dark, and comes across as being a real flake, but she is generally caring towards others, which comes in handy when she's dealing with Garaa. She's the only one that can get even remotely close to him, and that's good, too. She's very skilled at art. However, she is unusually afraid of...fish? She is thirteen years old.

. Emma - Shy, hardly ever says anything. Has shoulder-length dark brown hair and hazel-green eyes. Is underweight and short, but has the strongest amounts of chakra. She loves horses, and comes across as being the strongest member of the trio, although she is emotionally scarred, and physically (mind the neck there, they call her Scar-Neck...) Her singing voice cannot be beat. She also enjoys wood-work, and is fourteen years old.

. Kai - Philosophical, always has the right answer. Is from Thailand, with black hair and dark brown eyes, and looks a lot like Rock Lee. He loves reading, and studying everything, so it's no surprise that he has a lot of Ninjutsu theory. Overall, he can a real gentleman, but is very competitive. He has a bad habit of getting into fights because of this and has earned a reputation. He enjoys computing, and is fifteen years old.

CHAPTER ONE

The Artist, The Singer & The One Whom Fights

"That's...very _interesting_, Mari." The teacher said. "But aren't we supposed to be drawing fish today?"

Mari gasped, and dropped her pencil.

"FISH!" She screeched. "WHERE!?!?"

The teacher realised her mistake too late, and watched as Mari dashed around the classroom, trying to hide from the "fish".

In order to calm the hyperactive girl down (and save her from the embarrassment of the other students) the teacher picked up Mari's Sketchpad.

"Mari!" She called. "This picture is very good! I'm going to put it on the overhead projector!"

Mari stopped running.

Returning quietly to her desk, she said: "If you want to."

Shaking her head in amazement, the teacher placed Mari's picture on the overhead projector.

It showed a black and white sketch (that was slowly being inked in with felt-tipped coloured pens) of a boy, with dark marks around his eyes, a Chinese symbol on his forehead and a gourd on his back. He was looking very glary.

"And what's the name of the picture?" The teacher asked Mari.

Everybody had stopped to watch. They all liked Mari's art, no matter how weird it was. Or she was.

"Oh, that's easy!" Mari said, hopping off of her chair, and going over to her sketch-pad. She wrote something on it, and showed the teacher.

It was written in Katakana.

"And that says?" The teacher asked her.

Mari's voice dropped to a whisper. "Sabaku No Garaa..."

She gazed dreamily at the picture.

The teacher sweatdropped.

The other year eights laughed at her, but Mari took no notice.

Emma sat in wood-work, wearing her little white headphones (see the old Bacardi Rum Ad!), she was concentrating intently on the puppet that she was working on.

She had made it last week. Now she was decorating it. It already wore black, and she had made a black ninja hood for it. She had painted its skin, and was painting in some of the finer details.

Pink/purple/red face-paint, to be precise.

"So why can't this be love?" Emma sung along to Van Halen.

"HEY! FREAK!" A voice called.

Emma took no notice of this. The puppet was coming to life.

"OI! HEAD-PHONES!" Another voice shouted.

Emma was concentrating on her creation. Nothing else mattered.

"SCAR-NECK!" Somebody else shrieked, and the earphones were wrenched out of Emma ears.

She jumped up, setting the puppet gently down on the table.

"What is your problem!?!?" Emma cried. "Just leave me alone!"

"MP3 Players are banned at this school!" The girl standing before her had a pinched up face, and a snooty nose.

Emma hated her.

Her name was Sara, and she _had_ been Emma's very best friend, until she had betrayed and ditched her.

Emma hadn't quite gotten over that...

Sara tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, before picking up the puppet.

"What's this, some kind of a doll?" She asked, bitchily.

Emma grabbed the puppet from Sara. "Hey! Leave him alone!"

"Ooh, so sorry!" Sara said, not sounding as if she meant it at all. "I didn't know that he was your _boyfriend_!" She and the other class-members snickered.

Emma cradled the puppet close to her, willing for the bell to go.

And, miraculously, it did.

Emma took the puppet back to her locker.

No way was he staying in the classroom. She could almost see the other kids tearing him apart. The thought made her shiver, and that made her scar hurt. She winced, before placing the puppet into her locker.

On the sole of his boot, where the hiragana words (yes, _hiragana_) that said: Kankuro-Sama, complete with a teeny-tiny little Loveheart as well...

Kai clicked the last button, and smiled with satisfaction.

There, his Anime Babe For Macromedia Director was complete.

And now, to put his precious Temari into a movie. She was wearing robes, and was blonde and beautiful, as always.

"MISS!" A voice called from somewhere. "MISS! KAI'S LOOKING UP PORN!"

Kai's eyes did that weird oval thingy (you know, when they're scared or shocked) as the teacher came up behind him.

"KAI!" She boomed. "WHAT IS THIS!?!?"

"M...my cast?" Kai said, tentively.

The bell rang then, and Kai gratefully switched off his computer, after saving Temari to his thumb-drive.

He also knew where that voice had come from.

Nathan was gonna get it.

At lunchtime, Kai challenged Nathan. A huge circle of boys stood around them, as Kai easily overpowered Nathan, and broke his nose.

It took eight teachers to get Kai off of the battered Nathan.

Kai wiped a trail of blood from his mouth.

"He deserved it!" Kai spat.


	2. An Unexpected Desert Burial

Sacraficial Bonds

Chapter Two

An Unexpected Sand Burial…

The next day at school, Mari found Emma by her locker.

"Hey Emma-Chan, wasup…hey, seriously…" Mari stared at Emma's red eyes. "Did something happen at home again?"

Emma shook her head. "It's…it's nothing…"

Mari examined Emma's arms. "Hey! Those bruises are new! Emma-Chan!" Mari stared into her best friend's eyes. "Did you get hit again?"

Emma nodded miserably, and Mari hugged her.

"What happened? Come on, you can tell me…" Mari soothed.

Emma sniffed. "Mum and Dad…found out about the D I'm getting in sport…and so they…"

Mari hugged her again.

"Those bastards…" She said into Emma's hair. "I'll get them for this! Why, if Garaa were here…"

Emma looked up. "Mari, what on Earth are you going on about?"

Suddenly, a girl walked past talking to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I just love AQUA, the fish that are there…" She was saying.

"AAUURRGGHH!!" Mari screamed, leaping up. "FISH! WHERE ARE THEY? AAUURRGGHH! FISH! THEY'RE EVIL!"

Emma giggled.

Mari had a split personality.

Emma watched as Mari ran off, and started to hum _Lips Of An Angel_, by Hinder.

(In her mind, because she had been thinking about Kankuro from Naruto when she'd first heard it, that was his song!)

Emma went to her locker.

"Twenty-Four…Thirty-Six…Twenty-Four…heh heh heh…" She said.

She opened up her locker.

And let out a blood curdling scream.

"IT'S NOT HERE!" Kai screamed. "SOMEBODY DELETED MY BEAUTIFUL TEMARI! NOOOOOO!"

"MY SKETCHPAD!" Mari screeched. "THE EVIL FISH STOLE MY DRAWING OF SABAKU NO GARAA! EVIL FISH!"

"KANKURO!" Emma yelled. "WHERE'S MY KANKURO PUPPET THAT I MADE!?!? WHERE IS IT!?!? AAUURRGGHH!!"

Kai bolted from the computer room.

Mari dashed out of the art room.

And Emma slammed her locker shut and ran to find her friends.

They met each other in the hallway just outside of C Block, and all shouted in unison: "IT'S GONE!"

And then Mari cried: "THOSE EVIL FISH TOOK MY DRAWING OF GARAA!"

"WELL SOMEBODY WENT AND DELATED MY BEAUTIFUL TEMARI!" Kai added.

"AND MY KANKURO PUPPET THAT I MADE SO LOVINGLY HAS VANISHED!" Emma wailed.

"_WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO_!?!?" They all cried as one.

"_At last…we have arrived…"_

"_Are you sure that they're here?"_

"_Yes…I can sense them…" He licked his lips. "Fresh blood at last…"_

"_Just don't get too carried away, okay?"_

_He glared at her with his dark-lined green eyes, but didn't say anything._

_The other brother frowned. What's he planning???_

Beams of light appeared from in the sky. Mari's sketchpad and Emma's puppet were surrounded by little bits of digital data.

As the students (minus the three "creators") stared on in horror, the shapes largened. They materilized like data, forming human bodies.

"AAUURRGGHH!!" People screamed.

Girls fainted and guys freaked out and started to foam at the mouths.

Eyes bugged out.

A blonde-haired girl with a white robe, a giant fan on her back, and a scrutinizing gaze, let her glance wash over the student body.

She shook her head.

"Guys, they're not here…" She muttered.

A boy wearing all black, with pink.red/purple facepaint and a bold nature about him, glanced over at her.

"Are you sure?" He asked her.

The third boy, small for his age and with red hair and brown and white robes, clenched his fists.

"They're here…" He said through clenched teeth. "I just know that they are…"

Somebody in the crowd found their voice then. It was Nathan.

"OI! FREAKS! YOU MISSED THE CIRCUS BY ABOUT A MONTH!" He yelled. "HA HA HA HA!"

The other boys joined in the laughter.

The girls just snickered.

"Look at that blonde-bimbo!" One of the girls said.

"Yeah, and what's with that goth's facepaint?" Another girl asked.

"And what about that other guy with the gourd on his back, and that eye-shadow?" Nathan asked. "He's like a freaking racoon!"

They all laughed.

The "blonde-bimbo" and "face-paint-boy" glanced nervously at "racoon-boy".

His eyes were flashing and his breathing was ragged.

"Garaa…" The two of them said at once. "Don't…"

Garaa raised his hand, and the cork on his gourd popped open. Sand leaked out of the gourd.

"SAND COFFIN!" Garaa cried.

Sand rushed at Nathan.

It enveloped him, and he let out a cry as he hung there, suspended in mid-air, and only his face was showing.

Garaa's eyes narrowed.

"You got on my nerves…" He hissed. "Now you must die…"

"SAND B…"

"SABAKU NO GARAA!"

Garaa stopped in mid jutsu, eyes searching for the source of the voice.

It was Mari. She stood facing him, Emma and Kai on either side of her.

"You…" Garaa hissed, floating gently to the ground. "You are the one…"

Mari looked surprised. "Huh? How do you mean?"

Garaa looked at Kai. "You too…you are also…the one…"

Kai looked up – and saw Temari.

His eyes became lovehearts.

"MY DEAR TEMARI-SAN!" Kai shouted. "HOW I HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS DAY TO COME!"

"Uh…okay…" Temari gave her other brother a Look that clearly said: _Is he nuts_?

Garaa looked again at Mari. His eyes widened.

"Your forehead!" He cried.

Mari's hand crept up to the red tattoo that she had illegaly had done, that was on her forehead.

It was identical to Garaa's.

"I can only love myself…" Mari muttered.

Kai glanced at her.

"Fish!" Someone in the crowd called out.

Mari let out a shriek and began to blubber.

Everyone (including Garaa but excluding Mari of course) sweatdropped.

Emma stepped up to Mari.

"Get a hold of yourself, Mari-Chan!" She cried. "Remember what I told you! It's a you-know-what eat you-know-what eat world, and YOU ARE BIGGER!"

Mari nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Okay, I'm all better now!" She chirped.

Garaa stared at Emma.

_So much…Chakra!_ He thought. _I've never felt so much before…but how?_

Emma stared up at the boy dressed all in black.

"Kankuro-Sama…" She muttered.

Kankuro looked surprised. "My name…" He said. "How did you know it?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" Emma replied. "But my name is Emma."

"And I'm Mari."

Kai stared at Temari. "You can call me Dr. Love…"

"This is Kai!" Mari snapped as she beaned Kai over the head.

Garaa sighed. "Fine. Now that we all know each other, let's go."

"Go?" Kai asked. "Go where?"

"Back to our world." Temari explained, which caused Kai to blush.

Mari asked: "Why?"

"I'll explain later…" Garaa was getting impatient. It could be seen in his eyes by all. "For now, let's just get out of this place…"

A vortex of purple, black and white appeared above their heads.

Emma shrank back. "Do…do I have to? It's…so high…"

"Emma-Chan, you can't possibly want to stay here!" Mari snapped. "What about what your parents do to you all of the time? Think about that!"

Emma touched the bruises on her arms. Mari was right.

She nodded.

Temari smiled and clicked her fingers. All at once, Mari, Emma and Kai were floating at the same level as she and Kankuro were.

Mari giggled happily.

Kai gazed dreamily at Temari. (Temari pretended not to notice this.)

And Emma, shocked and almost scared at being up so high, grabbed onto the nearest thing handy – Kanuro's arm.

"Uh…" Kankuro said. "Do you mind?"

"No…" Emma said, and clung on even tighter. "This is my one True Terror…"

Kankuro rolled his eyes.

Emma stared at him.

"Kankuro-Sama…???" She ventured.

Kankuro looked at her.

"Uh…never mind…" Emma blushed.

She clung there then, humming _Lips Of An Angel_ again (go Hinder!).

"HEY!" Nathan cried. "I'M STILL IN HERE YOU KNOW!"

"Oh, right…" Garaa said. He walked over to a girl and took her black umbrella.

He opened it out.

"WELL, ARE YOU GONNA LET ME DOWN, YOU FREAK!?!?" Nathan shouted.

"Uh…no…" Garaa replied. He moved his hands. "SAND BURIAL!"

And the rest you know.

Everybody except Garaa got showered in blood.

More people fainted/had foamy mouths etc….

Emma buried her face in the black sleeve of the robes on Kankuro's shoulder.

Kankuro didn't mind.

**The End Of A Loooooooong Chapter…**


	3. In Disguise

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER THREE

In Disguise

Mari just stared at Garaa.

"Excuse me?" she said.

Garaa didn't look like he was going to explain the story to her again. He continued to glare at her, but she stared back, undaunted by those piercing green eyes.

Kai was captivated by Temari.

"I'm in love…" He said, just like a French-Man.

Temari tried to ignore this.

Emma had let go of Kankuro once they had been "spat out" by the purple/black/white vortex. She was staring around in wonder at where they were.

"Wait a minute…" She said. "I know where we are…"

"Oh, you do?" Temari asked her.

Emma sort of shrunk in size then, as everybody turned to look at her.

_So many eyes on me…_ She thought in a panic.

Mari gasped. "Hey, you're right! We recognize this place! Don't we Kai-Kun?"

Kai's eyes swiftly examined his surroundings.

"Oh, yeah, this is this place." He said. "Just outside of the Forest Of Death…"

Mari narrowed her eyes. "But hey, isn't this in the Hidden Leaf Village? I know that you guys are from the Hidden Sand Village…you shouldn't be here…"

Garaa gave her a Look that plainly said: _Don't tell me where I can and can't be!_

Temari saw the Look that Garaa gave Mari, and quickly said: "We're waiting for somebody. He'll, umm, explain to you how we can be here…"

Mari shrugged as if to say: _Fine, I don't care._

A group of butterflies whizzed past them.

"Ooh! Flutterbies!" Mari exclaimed. She dashed after them.

Kankuro sighed. "I hate little kids…" He said. "They're so…_annoying_…" He stressed the last words, as if to make some kind of a point.

Kai glared at him. "Hey, Mari-Chan is my friend! And she's not just a little kid!"

Kankuro glared right back at him. "She looks and acts like a little kid, so therefore – she _is_ a little kid!"

The two boys continued to glare daggers at each other.

Temari and Emma exchanged a glance.

Garaa just sighed.

Mari was still chasing "flutterbies".

Aside from the sound of her pattering footsteps, there was not a sound to be heard.

Suddenly, something shiny caught Emma's eye.

One of those ninja weapons that she had seen every single Naruto Ninja using, came sailing through the air towards her.

Emma didn't even think. She just placed her hands together in front of her face, and cried: "Masuiki!"

The weapon passed through the space where Emma had just been standing.

It clattered to the ground, and Emma reappeared, clinging onto Kankuro's arm for dear life.

Kankuro gasped. "How did you – !!!???"

Emma's eyes darted to the man whom had just stepped into their field of vision. It was Baki, the sensei of Garaa, Kankuro and Temari.

"He tried to kill me…" Emma whimpered.

"I was merely testing to see if the high levels of Chakra were coming from you…" Baki replied.

Temari stared at Emma. "What _was_ that jutsu?"

Emma shook her head. "I dunno. I made it up…"

"What's wrong with the way we're dressed?" Mari demanded.

She was dressed in a pink sundress with yellow flowers, yellow sandals and lots of yellow and pink jewelry to match. She was staring at the black robe that Baki had just handed her.

Kai was wearing a white shirt, black pants and shoes and a black jacket. Emma was wearing a black top, a grey skirt and old black leather boots, as well as bright red arm bands. They were both holding similar robes to Mari's that Baki had just handed them, and staring at them with high levels of distaste.

"I admit that our clothes don't look…_anything_…like yours do…" Kai trailed off and examined a portion of the material in his hands. "Umm…is this blood?" He asked, pointing.

"Well, you're already showered in blood…" Temari pointed out. "We'll get you something more substantial later on, when we get to the house."

"What house?" Mari asked.

"The house that we will be staying in…for awhile…" Baki said.

"And you're gonna train us as ninjas?" Kai queried.

"That's the…general idea…" Temari replied.

"Hey…you guys have robes in your hands as well…" Kai realized. "So you four really aren't supposed to be here…"

Temari and Kankuro had taken off their headbands…well, Temari had. Kankuro had concealed his as best he could – there was certainly no way you could tell that he was from the Hidden Sand Village…

(Garaa, as far as Emma, Mari and Kai knew, wore no headband. Why…???)

Temari sighed. "Just put on the robes…" She said.

Mari stuck out her chin. "And if we don't?"

Garaa raised his hands.

Mari gasped. "Okay, Okay, I'll put the robes on!" She said, hurriedly.

Garaa smirked. _Wimp…_

Kai glared at Garaa as he put his robes on.

Emma blushed, she didn't like meeting so many new peoples at once. True, she had always known about these four…but that didn't make it any _easier_…did it?

Kankuro was watching Emma.

_How on earth did she manage to make up her own jutsu? Is that even possible?_ He noticed the bruises on Emma's arms. _What happened to her?_ He recalled Mari's words. _Did her parents do that? No way…_

Baki nodded, once all of them were wearing their robes.

"Right." He said. "Let's go."


	4. More New Faces

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER FOUR

More New Faces

They trooped through the town, Baki, Garaa, Kankuro and Temari keeping their heads down.

"Remember, if anyone stops us, we _are_ a part of this village…" Temari whispered. "But we aren't whom we really are…"

"Whatever…" Garaa muttered.

Mari's eyes were wide. "This is just like on TV! Just like I've always imagined to it to be!"

Temari gave her a sideways glance. "We're on a TV show?"

Mari nodded. "Back in our world. It's really weird…"

"I'll say…" Temari agreed. She glanced up. "Oh no, it's…"

"NARUTO!" Mari shrieked.

Emma reached over and clapped her hand over her best friend's mouth, but it was too late.

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi walked over to them.

"Nice going, Mari-Chan!" Kai muttered. "Now we're doomed."

Mari bit Emma.

"OWCH!" Emma cried. "She bit me!"

Sasuke looked at them. "I don't recognize you three…"

Kai, Mari and Emma sweatdropped.

"We're…from around…here…" Kai stammered.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked them.

"Uh…" Mari coughed. "Well…you see…the thing about that…is that…err…"

"Hmm…" Naruto said, scrutinizing the three of them.

Kakashi was staring at Emma.

"_Her Chakra levels! They're skyrocketing!_

Emma suddenly moved her hands.

"Masuiki!" She cried.

She, Kai, Mari, Garaa, Baki, Temari and Kankuro all disappeared.

They reappeared a second later, out the front of a huge house.

"This…" Baki was shocked. "This is the…the house…" He looked at Emma. "How did you know that?"

"I…" Emma stared at the huge house before her. "Didn't…" She finished.

Mari glanced at her. "Emma-Chan?"

Emma shook her head, as if to clear it. "It's okay." She shifted the weight of the small backpack on her shoulders. "Come on, let's go in?"

Baki nodded, and pushed open the door, slowly…


	5. Getting Closer

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER FIVE

Getting Closer

The house, it turned out, as not just huge. It was _massive_!

"Okay…" Kai said, after they had all walked around the house to scope it out. "Thirteen rooms, one portioned-off hot spring, one shower room, _two_ kitchens – there you go Mari-Chan, twice as much food…_joking_, _joking_… – a freeform living room, an indoor swimming pool shapes like a crescent moon, an attic, and a basement that _could_ be used as a training room…" He glanced at Temari. "Right?"

Temari bit her lip. "Uh…sure…that's right…"

"Well, it's dinnertime!" Mari exclaimed. "Who's cooking?"

The seven of them exchanged a seven-way glance.

"Uh…" Baki said. "This…could…be…a…problem…"

There was a sigh from someone. It was Emma. She shrugged off her backpack and her robes.

"No it isn't." She said, standing there in her street-clothes. "I'll cook us up something." She headed off to the kitchens.

"Can she cook?" Kankuro wondered out loud.

Mari nodded. "Oh, sure, Emma-Chan's the best…because…"

"She had to cook for herself from the age of three…" Kai finished.

Garaa glanced at them.

Emma, standing in the kitchen two hours later, humming _The Sickness_ by Disturbed, admired her handiwork.

"I hope everybody likes Beef Stockpot…" Emma muttered. "With potatoes, carrots, turnips and whatever that blue vegetable was…"

Kai and Mari wandered in.

"Hey, that smells good!" Kai said. "Your soups are always great!"

Emma turned around. "Thanks…hey! You're wearing different clothes! And they look pretty comfy too!"

Mari pointed up the stairs. "There's a lot of clothes in the rooms. Go and pick something out."

Emma admired Kai's white ninja robes, and Mari, whom had managed to find a pink and yellow Sakura-Like dress. She wiped her hands on a tea-towel, and dashed up the staircase, eager to start looking for something to wear.

She went into the bedroom that she had designated for herself, and threw her robes and backpack onto the bed. Glancing at the backpack, she started to unpack what little things she had in there.

Her MP3 Player and Little White Headphones…

Her miniature black sentry clock…

The book that she was currently reading, a battered old copy of _Dead Puppets Dance_ by .M.W. Peacock.

Then she turned towards the wardrobe, and began to search through it.

She tried on three different outfits, before she found the one for her.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed, and took off the former outfit that she had been trying on.

It was at that moment that Kankuro walked past, looking for her because Mari was more then ready to eat.

The first thing that Kankuro saw was not Emma, but the contents of her backpack.

The title of the book, _Dead Puppets Dance_, caught his eyes.

"What the…" And then he looked up.

His eyes widened.

His cheeks reddened.

There was Emma, standing with her back to him, wearing just her underclothes. Her back was covered in bruises and scars, and she was a tiny and lithe thing.

Kankuro continued to stare.

Emma suddenly spun around, blue Chakra glowing in her eyes.

She gasped. "YOU! OUT!" She screamed, and raised her hand.

The door slammed in Kankuro's face.

They sat around the huge table in the kitchen, Baki at the head of the table, Garaa and Kankuro to the left of him, Mari and Emma across from them, and Kai at the other head of the table.

They all glanced at Emma.

"Well, the soup's all served…" Said Emma, ducking her head and blushing. _So many eyes…_ "So, go ahead…"

Nobody moved.

Emma began to dig her red nails into her palm.

Suddenly, Kankuro raised his spoon. Everybody watched as he placed it into the soup bowel, and brought it out again. Breaths were actually held as he put the spoon into his mouth.

They waited.

Kankuro swallowed.

"This…" He said. "Is the best soup that I've ever had!" He declared. "What's in it?"

Emma listed the ingredients.

"Ah, Blue Radish, of course…" Temari said. "The finishing flavour to any soup…"

Satisfied, the others began to eat as well.

When they had all finished, Temari and Mari cleared the table.

Baki stood up. "Well, I'm going to the hot springs and then bed. Goodnight…"

He left.

The others followed suite.

Emma glanced at the door to the hot springs.

"Umm…I might shower instead." Emma said. "Hot springs tend to be…too hot for me…"

"Okay." Temari said.

Mari shrugged.

Emma walked down the hallway.

Actually, hot springs tended to be too _cold_ for her…she liked boiling hot.

Kankuro felt the same way. There were two showers, and neither was aware that the other was in the other one, as Emma had come in first and shut the door.

Kankuro came in two minutes later.

And they still didn't figure it out when they both turned the water on, because they turned their showers on at the _exact_ same time!

Kankuro only figured out that he wasn't alone, when Emma started to sing.

"_It's really good to hear your voice, saying my name, it sounds so sweet…_" Emma sang. "_Coming from the Lips Of An Angel, hearing those words it makes me weak…and now I, never wanna say goodbye, but boy you make it hard to be faithful…with the Lips Of An Angel…_"

Kankuro gulped. His face-paint ran freely over his face. So, she could harness her Chakra, _and_ she could sing.

Really well.

Emma suddenly turned off her shower.

There was a silence, as Kankuro's shower was still running.

Emma coughed. "Who's that?"

Kankuro cleared his throat. "Emma-San?"

"Kankuro-Sama?" Emma blinked.

_It's really good to hear your voice, saying my name, it sounds so sweet…_

Emma gasped. "I'm outta here! Masuiki!"

Kankuro had the feeling that he was now very much alone.


	6. Training Commences

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER SIX

Training Commences

Kankuro glared Kai. Why, of the three of them, did Kankuro have to train Kai?

Kai had just given him a blood nose.

He was like Rock Lee – he was _fast_!

Kankuro usually didn't mind those that were older then him.

BUT THIS WAS THE EXCEPTION!

Temari and Mari wandered in.

"KAI-KUN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?" Mari shrieked. "YOU'VE BROKEN HIS NOSE!" She strode over to Kankuro. "But I can fix that!" She added, triumphantly. "Temari-Sensei taught me how to! Kedin!"

The blood on Kankuro's nose vanished.

"Wow, Mari-Chan, that was great!" Kai said.

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "It was a simple jutsu?"

Mari gave him a Look. "I can break them again, too." She snapped.

Emma glared at Garaa.

After she had told him that she was ambidextrous, he had tied her hands behind her back, and told her that she couldn't use them to fight.

This pissed Emma off. How could she fight without her hands?

The basement was divided into three sections.

Baki was watching Garaa and Emma training.

Garaa's sand was lunging at Emma, and Emma was dodging it.

Suddenly, she tripped (without the balance of her arms) and gasped as the sand came down to crush her.

Emma gasped.

Suddenly, Baki was in front of her, and the sand veered off course.

"That's enough." Baki ordered. "She's trained enough for today…"

"No…" Emma said, shakily getting to her feet. "Let…let us continue, Baki-San…I can…I can take anything he throws at me…"

Garaa recognized the words, and narrowed his eyes. At once, the sand lifted up and flew at Emma.

She jumped out of the way, and pushed herself off of a wall.

"How can I use jutsus if I can't move my hands?" She cried.

The sand rushed at her, and grabbed her by the waist.

"AAUURRGGHH!!" She screamed as she was slammed into a wall. She tasted blood in her mouth, which trickled out of her lips as Garaa's sand threw her to the floor like a rag doll.

She crashed to the floor, and groaned.

"That's enough…" Baki started, but stopped as Emma climbed back to her feet.

"TO THE HELL I'M FINISHED!" Emma shouted. Her eyes turned blue. "AOI FIRE!"

"Blue Fire!" Baki cried.

The fire rushed at Garaa.

"MASUIKI!"

The sand blocked the fire.

Garaa gasped as Emma appeared behind him a nano-second later.

"Take this!" She cried.

She raised her foot, and it made contact with the side of Garaa's head.

His Sand Shield had not protected him.

The sand slammed into Emma at that exact moment.

Baki gasped.

Garaa fell to the floor, as did Emma.

Baki stared at them.

"Well how about that…" He muttered. "They've knocked each other out…" He walked over to the door. "I'll just leave them there, I think…"


	7. The Interesting Night

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Interesting Night…

Four days had passed after the seven of them had arrived at the house. And in those four days, personalities and relationships had started to show through with the six teenagers.

_Kai was still infatuated with Temari. Temari was trying to ignore this…_

_Kankuro was constantly saying how annoying Mari was, Mari was doing it on purpose…_

_Temari was good friends with Mari…_

_Kankuro and Kai were constantly at each others throats…_

_Emma and Kankuro were wary around each other…_

_Garaa was angry at the world, as usual…_

Emma and Kankuro got to know each other.

One night, it stormed.

Lightning flashed, and thunder flared.

Mari had totally freaked out after having a nightmare about walking fish, and had ordered everybody to sleep in the same room – the living room.

(They had no choice; she would never have shut up if they hadn't!)

The girls took over the couches, Kankuro and Kai slept on the floor, Baki slept in an armchair, and Garaa sat against a wall, resting his eyes.

Mari tossed and turned. Everybody else (except for Garaa the insomniac) was asleep. She got up with a sigh, and crept out of the room with a small bottle in her hands.

Garaa noticed her going. He sighed too, and got up to follow her.

He found her in the smaller kitchen, with a glass of water and a small red pill.

"Oh, Sabaku No Garaa, I didn't expect you to follow me…" She swallowed the pill. Sitting down at the table, she sighed. "I've always had trouble sleeping, because of the you-know-what's. If I'm not in a deep sleep, then they haunt my dreams, and I end up sleepwalking off of a balcony or something…" She glanced at him. "Don't you ever get tired?"

It was not a question anyone had ever asked Garaa. He stared at her, and she continued: "I know why you can't sleep. If you do, that bloody Sand Demon will take over you and go on a killing spree."

Garaa nodded.

Mari tapped her chin. "You know, you and I are a lot alike…sit down, and I'll tell you why…"

Garaa sighed with resignation, and sat down…

Kai had managed to move as close to the couch as possible. By morning, he was certain that he'd be sharing it with Temari…

Emma opened her eyes.

She had just woken up from a falling dream (the worst kind).

She hated them.

Shaking, Emma got up. She heard voices coming from the kitchen, and decided not to go there. She headed outside, instead.

"Emma-San? Is that you?"

Emma squinted into the dark night.

"Hey…is that you, Kankuro-Sama?"

Kankuro nodded and stepped out of the shadows.

"What are doing up here?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Had a bad dream. Falling…"

Kankuro glanced to the side. "Feel like taking a walk?"

Emma looked surprised. "Sure, why not?"

They walked through the large courtyards, until they came to a small stone bench.

They sat down together.

Emma pulled out her MP3 Player.

"What's that?" Kankuro asked her, as she unwound the headphones.

"This? My MP3 Player? Oh, here, I'll show ya…" Emma handed him one of the ear phones, and placed it in his ear. She put the other earphone in her own ear. "Here, this is a good song…" She said, and pressed the play button. It was _A Dream Worth Keeping_, from Fern Gully.

Emma sang softly along with it.

The next song came on, and it was _Sorrento Moon_, by Tina Arena.

At the end of the song, Kankuro glanced over at Emma.

Her head was resting upon his shoulder.

She had fallen asleep.

And Kankuro fell asleep too, listening to _This Time I Know It's For Real_, by The Young Divas…


	8. He Never Comes

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER EIGHT

He Never Comes…

The next morning, Kankuro woke up alone.

Temari woke up with Kai right next to her. She pushed him off of the couch.

Baki woke up with a sore neck.

And Mari woke up to find Garaa still sitting across the table from her. Emma was cooking in the kitchen.

"Ooh!" Mari cried. "Smells like bacon and eggs on toast!"

"That's because (yawn) it is!" Emma replied, smiling sleepily at Mari. "Now go and get the others, Mari-Chan…"

"Noooo…" Mari whined. "Make Sabaku No Garaa go and get them…"

Emma glared at Mari. "No, I asked _you_ to go and get them. Kai, Temari and Baki are in the living room, and Kankuro is outside, somewhere. Now go!" She said, pointing to the door. "If you don't then you won't get any food, and I mean that..."

Mari pouted, but she did go. She was hungry. _Really_ hungry…

Emma turned to Garaa. "Now, as for you…"

Garaa stood up. "After breakfast, you're coming with me." He said.

"Fine." Emma replied, taking the bacon out of the pan. "Where are we going."

"Out."

"Oh sure, that tells me a lot!" Emma snapped.

After breakfast was finished, and Kai and Baki had done the dishes, Emma and Garaa stood up to leave.

"Wait!" Kankuro said. "Where are you taking her?"

"She needs to further her training…" Garaa replied. "Elsewhere…and I know just who's gonna help her…"

Emma tossed the MP3 Player to Kankuro.

"Here," She said. "Listen to the song that's on it. If you accept, then meet me on the evening that you do at the stone bench." She paused, and then finished in a whisper: "I'll be waiting for you…"

Kankuro listened to the song. It was _Breathless_, by The Corrs.

"Wait!" He cried out loud. "I understand it! She…she wants me to kiss her!"

He stared at the sky above the balcony of the attic.

"Oh great…now what?"

Garaa and Emma stood before the two figures.

"I know you two…" Emma said. "Zaku-Kun, of the Hidden Sound Village."

Zaku inclined his head.

"And you, you're Neji-Kun, you're on the same team as Rock Lee is, and you're Hinata's brother…"

Neji's Look said: _Don't remind me…_

Emma turned to Garaa. "Garaa-San, how did you get these two here? You hate each other…and it's a blood-hate...and you never speak to each other...and that's a very well-known fact..."

"Exactly…" Garaa muttered. "But they need to see this." And his sand attacked her.

Emma gasped and dodged, calling out something unrepeatable to Garaa, in her anger and shock.

The battle played out similar to their first training session.

Zaku and Neji watched with shocked eyes, as Emma battled on, through blood, sweat and tears.

The final straw came when Garaa's sand immobilized all of Emma's limbs, and shot up at her throat.

"MY SCAR!" Emma shrieked. "ARHGN…NN…" Her eyes and body glowed blue with Chakra.

Zaku and Neji gasped.

"AOI FIRE!" She screamed.

The fire traveled down the sand towards Garaa. He diminished it just in time, and Emma fell to the dirt ground of their secret training area.

Zaku was the first to move and also the first to speak. He walked over to the girl's shaken and battered body and helped her to her feet.

"Who are you?" He asked her.

She wiped the blood from her chin. "I'm Emma."

"Emma-San…" Zaku muttered, searching her eyes. "Fight me…"

And so she did.

And she won.

She versed Neji, and she won.

But she was practically dead.

"What is this…???" She leaned against a tree. "Jutsu…my body is drained like it's Tai Jutsu…" She fainted.

That evening, when she returned from training, Emma waited by the bench.

Nobody came.

That happened for the next sixty nights.

He never came…


	9. How Wicked

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER NINE

How Wicked…

Although Emma was the strongest, Kai and Mari could fight as well, and were getting stronger.

Temari approached Garaa and Baki about this.

"Why are we training them, if we're just gonna kill them?" She asked.

Kankuro's head snapped up.

"The Moon God needs strong offerings; otherwise he won't be resurrected with his full powers." Baki replied.

"I doubt that Mari and Kai would be strong enough, regardless." Garaa added. "But maybe Emma…"

Kankuro stood up. "You can't kill Emma!" He snapped. "I don't care about the other two! But leave Emma out of this!"

Temari shook her head. "Little Brother, it's the only way…"

"I DON'T CARE!" He yelled. "IT CAN'T HAVE HER!"

Garaa stood up too, and raised his hands.

"If you try to warn her," Garaa said. "Then I will kill you…"

And he meant it, too. He'd waited far too long to destroy more lives in this way. And by merging with the Moon God…

Kankuro was pale.


	10. A Visit From Team 7

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER TEN

A Visit From Team Seven

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Mari called. She flung the door open.

"AAUURRGGHH!!" She screamed. "NARUTO-CHAN! SAKURA-SAN! SASUKE-KUN! KAKASHI-SAN!"

Naruto blinked. "She's even more hyper then me…" He muttered, as Mari let them in, babbling happily.

"What are you doing here?" Baki asked, as he, Kai, Kankuro and Temari came in.

"I could ask the same thing of you…" Kakashi replied. "You know that you're not supposed to be here..." He looked around. "Where are Garaa and that other girl?"

Garaa watched as Emma aimed punch after punch at the piece of wood. Although her hands were bloodied and bruised, she continued her onslaught.

Garaa watched with satisfaction as Emma counted, unawares that the others had just come down to the training basement.

"One thousand two…one thousand three…" She counted.

"Emma-San?" Kankuro said.

"One thousand five…what? Oh, hi guys…" Emma lowered her fists. The blood dripped to the floor, but Emma barely noticed.

"Are you the one known as Emma-San?" Kakashi asked her.

Emma nodded. "Yes. How'd you know...???" She gasped, and her and Garaa's eyes widened in shock. "It was Zaku or Neji! But which one?" Emma wondered.

Garaa shut his eyes briefly, before opening them to glare at everybody (of course...)...

Emma worked it all out. "Neji told Li told Sakura – Neji also told Hinata told Naruto – TOLD KAKASHI! GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY OTHERS THEY TOLD! THIS IS SHIT! I'M DISCOVERED!"

Kakashi raised a hand to quiet her.

"Even if they hadn't, I could tell from your high levels of Chakra on out first meeting." He narrowed his eyes (well, we assume he narrowed both of them, don't we, but we can only see one of them...) and looked at her. "Are you a shinobi?"

Emma shook her head. "No, Kakashi-San. I am...just in training to be a ninja, like Mari and Kai."

"And," Mari chirped up. "Emma-Chan beat Zaku and Neji, and she almost beat Sabaku No Garaa as well! She's awesome!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow (the visible one...) and said: "Neji and Zaku didn't mention that..." He sighed. "This could be a problem..."

"You're able to beat Neji?" Sasuke stepped forward and stared at Emma.

And when Emma nodded, Sasuke said: "Emma-San...fight me..."

Emma sighed. "Oh boy, here we go again."

(She literally _thrashed_ Sasuke...)


	11. This Is Your Night

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER ELEVEN

This Is Your Night...

Garaa stood in the front hall with Baki, Kankuro and Temari.

His eyes were narrowed.

"We have to move tonight..." He said, breathing ragged (here comes the Sand Demon...)

Baki nodded. "I agree with you fully. If the Hokage finds out about Emma and the others...well, no Moon God..."

Garaa sighed. "And then I would kill you..."

Temari gulped. "Ah...so then it's agreed, we move right now!" She glanced at Kankuro. "What's the matter?" She asked him.

Kankuro wouldn't meet their gazes.

Garaa narrowed his eyes again (squinty) and, walking over to Kankuro, he grabbed the front of his older brother's robes.

"Go and get Emma NOW!" He ordered. "And meet us at the centre of the Forest Of Death!"

Kankuro detached himself from Garaa.

"Fine..." He said, through clenched teeth.

Kankuro turned and left.

Temari went in search of Kai, and Baki looked for Mari.

Garaa remained by the front door, standing there motionless in the hallway.

His eyes glowed.

"Now..." He rasped. "I can become...even...stronger..." He licked his lips. "It is time!"

Kankuro knew just where to find Emma. He climbed the steps to the stone bench upon the hill. As he got there, he could hear that lovely singing voice again.

"_This Is Your Night, dancing free until the morning light! Together forever..."_

Kankuro watched Emma for a second, before stepping over to her.

Emma stopped singing and looked at him, a question in her hazel-green eyes.

Kankuro nodded, and Emma's eyes lit up and filled with hope.

Kankuro put his hands on Emma's shoulders, leaned close towards her, and...

"HELP MEEEE!!"

Emma gasped. "That sounded like..."

"NO GARAA! NOT THE EVIL FISH! PLEASE GARAA! BAKI! YOU TOO!?!? NO! DON'T HURT ME!"

"Mari..." Kankuro muttered.

"WHY TEMARI!?!? WHY!?!?"

"And Kai..." Emma said. "They're in trouble! We have to go to them!" She grabbed Kankuro's arm. "MASUKIKI!"


	12. The Game

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER TWELVE

"THE GAME"

(Warning: Language gets obscene. Read at your own risk...Read Or Die...)

The most horrible sight met Emma and Kankuro's eyes.

At the top of the tower (you know the one) was a huge stone statue of a strange Wolf God. Tied to it were a bleeding Mari and a bleeding Kai.

Garaa was standing before them, smiling that twisted smile of his. Temari and Baki were each holding one of those ninja weapons, which was dripping with blood.

Mari spotted Emma.

"THEY LIED TO US EMMA-CHAN!" She shrieked. "THEY'RE NOT REALLY TRAINING US! THEY'RE JUST GOING TO USE US AS SACRIFICES! THEY'RE GOING TO **KILL** US!" She was crying now.

Emma gasped. "_That can't be true_!" She cried. She whirled around to Kankuro. "Kankuro-Sama!" She was finding it hard to speak. "Please...say it isn't so!"

Kankuro lowered his eyes and bit his lip.

Emma stared at him, and a look of recognition dawned across her pale face.

"No..." She muttered, stepping backwards. "I trusted you..." She glared at the others. "I trusted all of yous...but _him_," She glared at Kankuro. "_Him_ most of all! AND YOU ALL LIED TO ME!"

"_Tell me exactly  
what am I supposed to do?  
Now that I have  
allowed you to beat me!  
Do you think that  
we could play another game?  
Maybe I can win this time?  
I kind of like  
the misery you put me through.  
Darling, you can trust me  
completely.  
If you even try  
to look the other way,  
I think that I could kill this time."_

Garaa's sand lunged at Emma then, and Emma jumped out of the way – just in time.

_It doesn't really seem  
I'm getting through to you.  
Though I see you weeping so sweetly.  
I think that you might  
have to take another taste,  
a little bit of Hell this time._

Emma unleashed her Blue Fire, which Garaa dodged –easily.

_He's in his Sand Demon mode..._ Emma realized with a start. _What am I gonna do now!?!?_

Garaa was yelling at Emma. "YOU ALSO LIED TO ME! YOU AND MARI! YOU'RE REALLY AMME AND RAMI! RAAAMIII!"

_Is she not right?  
Is she insane?  
Will she now run for her life  
in the battle that ends this day?  
Is she not right?!  
Is she insane?!  
Will she now run for her life  
now that she LIED TO ME!_

The little bitch,  
she went and she told A LIE!  
Now she will never tell another.  
A LIE!  
The little bitch,  
she went and she told A LIE!  
NEVER FUCKING LIE TO ME!

Emma fell...

"NOOOO!" Kankuro yelled.

He leapt over the balcony, grabbing her as she fell (in slow-mo...)


	13. Garaa's Full Demon Power

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

GARAA'S FULL DEMON POWER

_Emma was gasping in pain and...in fear._

"_Emma-San?"_

_Emma had tears leaking from her eyes. "Kankuro-Sama!"_

"_Emma-San...why are you so afraid of heights?"_

"_My parents...Mum blindfolded and binded me...and Dad pushed me off of a bridge! When I was eight! And then they tried to cut my neck and my stomach with a Chef's Knife! When I was eleven!"_

"_Why? Why would they do that?"_

"_I...I DON'T KNOW! WHY HAVE YOU GUYS BETRAYED US!?!? MARI'S ALREADY HAD ENOUGH BETRYAL! AND KAI HAS A STEP-FAMILY THAT HATES HIM SO MUCH! BUT YOU ARE TRAITORS! WHY!?!? THAT'S WHAT I WANNA KNOW! TELL ME! NOW!"_

"_I never wanted to! I wanted to stop Garaa...but he would have killed us, and then nobody would have loved him!"_

"_He...he can't...he can't understand the true love...and its meaning...but...I think...I think that I do..."_

"_And I know that I certainly do..."_

_Kankuro leaned towards Emma and, still holding her as they fell, he kissed her._

_Emma opened her eyes to stare into Kankuro's own ones. She saw no fear and no pain, only devotion, loyalty, caring and...love..._

_Emma relaxed._

'_At last...' She thought. 'Somebody loves me...'_

_The facepaint on Kankuro's lips traveled to Emma's own. It spread up and down her face, forming a Kabuki Warrior's Mask._

_They broke apart and smiled at each other._

"_BUNRAKU!" They yelled together and let go of each other...with a bit of resignation..._

_All at once, they stopped falling, as fine but strong marionette puppet strings appeared from their fingers._

"_Going up!" Emma cried, as they both flew upwards..._

Temari gasped as they came back up. "You guys are okay!"

Emma glared at her. "You! You attacked Kai!"

Temari held up her hands. "I had to! For Garaa's sake! Emma! Your face!"

Emma turned to Garaa, red/purple/pink facepaint a'shining in the moonlight. Her eyes turned blue and her Blue Fire billowed up and around her.

Garaa's green eyes flashed, and his sand appeared behind him.

Suddenly, the sand veered away from him and grabbed the ninja weapon from Baki. It went flying through the air. It flew at Emma with deadly accuracy, and it was faster then she could dodge.

It cut into her arm with enough force to knock out a freight train, and she grabbed her arm as it began to bleed profusely.

The ninja weapon continued on its course, and hit the statue.

Kankuro, whom was holding onto Emma's arm as well to stem the bleeding, suddenly gasped.

"Oh…no…" He said.

Temari and Baki gasped, too.

"This is it…" Baki muttered.

"It has happened…" Temari murmured.

Garaa stood before the statue as it began to crack, and shafts of black light began to leak out from it.

"AT LAST!" He shouted. "THE MOON GOD HAS BEEN REAWAKENED! AND I TOO WILL JOIN IT IN IT'S BLOOD-HUNT! AT LAST!"

Garaa's body began to glow red.

Temari screamed. "GARAA-KUN! NO! DON'T LET IT TAKE OVER YOU!"

Garaa turned to her, a wild look in his eyes.

"Who's Garaa?" He asked in a completely different voice (it was deeper), and Kankuro, Temari and Baki gasped. "Your brother is lost…AND I AM REBORN!"

There were painfully blinding flashes of red and white light. The Sand Demon's cruel laugh pierced through the air.

And they knew that they had to get out of there.

Kankuro called to his sister and Sensei.

"GET MARI AND KAI OUT OF THE WAY! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!"

He then turned to Emma, grabbed her around the waist, and leapt from the tower top and onto a nearby tree branch.


	14. Recovery & Recrution

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

RECOVERY & RECRUTION

They got as far away from the tower as possible.

Emma, ignoring her bleeding arm, bolted over to her friends as soon as they arrived.

Baki set Mari down on the ground.

"She's unconscious, but she should be fine…when she wakes up…" Baki said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand, and straightening out his headgear. "I think she just fainted from fear…"

Kai was leaning against Temari's shoulder, sporting a broken leg, and he looked totally happy to be this close to Temari, although it was clear from his pale face and glassy eyes that he was in a lot of pain.

Temari sat him down by a tree, and set to work healing his leg.

Baki leaned against another tree, sighing deeply.

Emma motioned to Kankuro.

"Come on…" She whispered, and the two of them walked quietly out of the glade.

When they were out of earshot Emma, with her facepaint almost identical to Kankuro's, turned to him and said: "What are we going to do?"

Kankuro shook his head. "I have no idea. Garaa has allowed his Sand Demon to take control of him, and now he has merged with the Moon God. He is lost to us…"

Emma interrupted: "No! Don't talk like that! We can get him back…" She trailed off. "I just don't know how, exactly…" And then she gasped. "Oh! I know!"

"You do?" Kankuro asked her. "How?"

"Not how – _whom_…"

"Huh?" Kankuro stared at her.

Emma grinned, and took Kankuro's hand.

"It's time to invite a few people to assist us…MASUKIKI!"

Baki, Kai and Temari were visibly shocked when Emma and Kankuro came back, along with twelve other ninjas: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Rock Lee, Neji, Ten Ten, Gai, Shikamaru, Zaku, Dosu and Hinata!

"What the…how did they get here?" Temari cried.

Emma said: "We need all the help that we can get. We don't want to kill Garaa…but we want to kill the Moon God."

Shikamaru sighed. "How troublesome…" He muttered.

Rock Lee turned to Gai. "I will do my very best, Gai-Sensei!" He said.

Gai gave him the thumbs up and grinned broadly. "Well said!"

Sakura rolled her eyes.

Neji, Sasuke and Zaku were glaring at each other.

Hinata was glancing at Naruto, and blushing.

Dosu was looking like he wished that we weren't there.

Kakashi stepped up to Baki.

"I need you to tell me everything about this Moon God." Kakashi said. "If we want to defeat it…"

"Then we have to know everything about it!" Gai finished.

Baki nodded. "Alright. But it's a long story, so sit down…"

They all sat down, being careful of the unconscious Mari, and the injured Kai and Emma.

(Emma sat next to Kankuro, of course…)

Baki took a deep breath. "A hundred and two years ago, there was a man called Yue. Yue had lived a hard life, brought up in an orphanage in the Hidden Moon Village, and he wasn't very popular or well-liked. Some could say that he was somewhat of an outcast. He was also a ninja but, as the rules back then clearly stated, no child in the orphanage in the Hidden Moon Village could train to become a shinobi. So Yue grew up lonely and unloved. Then, when he was twenty-five years old, Yue fell in love with a beautiful woman from the Hidden Sound Village, called Rami. Rami was the only person that seemed to appreciate Yue, and he fell even more deeply in love with her. But one day, just when Yue had been about to profess his love for Rami, he discovered that another man, a handsome young ninja from the Hidden Waterfall Village called Keizer, had also fallen in love with Rami, and he had stolen her heart – and her innocence. The final straw came for Yue when Keizer proposed to Rami – and she accepted – because, of course, she had to."

Mari stirred in her sleep.

"Yue became so jealous, angry and upset, that his body was consumed with the grief and pain of losing the only person that had ever loved him," Baki continued. "And he became a terrible monster, called the Moon God. The Moon God sought out Rami and Keizer on their wedding day – and he killed them."

Sakura and Hinata gasped.

"After the Moon God had killed hundreds of innocent lives, somebody decided to do something to stop him." Baki glanced up at the moon, shining through the gap in the trees. "Rami had an older half-sister, called Amme, from the Hidden Rain Village. She was a powerful young shinobi, and she managed to seal the Moon God in a statue in the Forest Of Death."

Emma and Kankuro exchanged a glance. Everybody else looked shocked.

Suddenly, Mari began to mumble in her sleep.

"Oh great," Temari muttered. "Not the F-I-S-H again…"

"No…" Emma whispered. "Sshh, listen…"

Mari tossed in her sleep. "Mmm…Great-Grandma…Great-Grandma-Rami…Great Half-Grandma-Amme…Great-Granddad-Keizer…"

Emma gasped, as did everybody else.

"I get it!" Sakura said. "You guys…you must be…"

"Related to those three that were in the story…" Zaku added.

"And…" Emma stood up, shaking. "That's why we were meant to be the sacrifices. Because I am Amme, Mari is Rami and Kia is Keizer. We're the ones that the Moon God wants…" She gasped. "I…I know how to kill the Moon God!" Emma was pale, and tears ran down her face, smearing her facepaint. "It…it was born of our blood, right? So…if Mari, Kai and I die…"

"No!" Kankuro stood up, too, and put his hands on Emma's shoulders. "There has to be another way!"

"There's no other way." Kai said. He stood up, wincing on his broken leg. "Besides, I hate Garaa. Bluntly, that's how I put it. This is my way of beating that little shit at his own game!"

Mari woke up then. She sat up and looked around her.

"Oh…" She said, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "Everybody's here…" She glanced at her two best friends. "Emma-Chan? Kai-Kun? What's going on?"

Emma and Kai exchanged a glance.

Emma gave Kai a Look that purely said: _You tell her…_

Kai shook his head. _Uh uh, no way José…_

Mari looked exasperated. "_Somebody_ tell me! Please?"

Emma won the silent battle, and Kai sighed.

"Mari-San, do you remember that part in the first Harry Potter movie, the chess game scene?"

Mari shook her head, as an owl flew over their glade.

"Remember when Ron sacrificed himself to save the others?" Kai tried.

Still Mari didn't get it.

Emma walked over to her best friend, put her hands around her ear, and whispered the plan to her.

And at last Mari understood. She stepped backwards, staring around at the others.

Baki was shaking his head. Temari looked upset. Emma and Kai were firm. Kankuro was pale.

At last, Mari nodded. "It's the only way."


	15. Awesome Dark Jutsu Of The Uchiha Clan

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AWESOME DARK JUTSU OF THE UCHIHA CLAN

They heard their enemy before they saw him. He was roaring in anger. All most of them could hear was senseless roars.

But Kankuro and Temari heard otherwise.

"He is looking for us…" Temari whispered.

"No…" Kankuro shook his head. He glanced at Emma, Mari and Kai. "He is looking for you three."

"It's because he thinks that they're still Amme, Rami and Keizer…" Sasuke said. He sighed. "Typical Garaa…"

Mari dug her toe into the dirt. "Well, now what?" She asked.

Sasuke exchanged a glance with Kakashi, whom nodded.

"What?" Kai suspiciously asked.

Sasuke said: "I…" He said, and then changed his mind. "There is a secret Jutsu passed down from the members of the Uchiha Clan. It is a forbidden Jutsu for one person to use, but when a whole group uses it…"

"But if it's passed down from the Uchiha Clan, then how can we use it?" Shikamaru asked. _How very troublesome…_

Sasuke looked like he was trying to word his speech correctly. "There are two parts to the Jutsu. The first part consists of passing the ability to use it to a group of ninjas, and the second part is them actually _using_ the Jutsu." His eyes had a faraway look about them. "It's called Dark Jutsu, and it is a sacrificial killing curse."

There was a collective group gasp.

Only Kakashi, Mari, Emma, Kai and Kankuro remained emotionless.

"How many ninjas are needed to use the Jutsu?" Sakura asked.

"Sixteen." Kakashi replied. "Plus the ninja whom is passing the Jutsu around – and that's Sasuke."

"So we're short two ninjas…" Zaku said. "Because, clearly, Emma, Mari and Kai can't use the Dark Jutsu on themselves."

"Clearly." Emma replied, and Zaku glanced at her.

She looked awfully calm for somebody whom was about to give up her life as a sacrifice.

"W-what w-ill y-y-you d-d-do, Em-mma-S-san?" Hinata spoke up in a timid voice.

Emma jumped. She had never heard Hinata speak before in real life.

"What will I do?" She asked. She racked her brain for an answer. "Well…I'll…" A light bulb appeared above her head. "Ah! That's it!" She cried. "Be back in a second! MASUIKI!" She cried, and disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a trail of pink smoke.

"Whoa…" Shikamaru and Rock Lee said.

"So, it is true then?" Gai looked at Kakashi. "She has very high levels of Chakra, but she doesn't need to use that much of it?"

Kakashi nodded. "She is an unusual girl, having not had any training."

"No training!" Dosu's voice was sharp. "How could she have had no training?" His eyes flashed. "That can't be possible!"

Neji glared at him. "I fought with her, and I was able to tell immediately that her skills were all natural. There was no training before she came here."

"Garaa trained her when she arrived here." Zaku added. "But before that…???"

"Emma and I had to learn how to take care of ourselves." Mari spoke up, and Kai nodded in agreement. "Still, she was always better then me."

"You have become strong, Mari-San." Temari said, gently. "And…Kai-Kun, you as well."

Kai looked pleased.

"Still, we all know which ninja is the strongest in our little group." Kankuro spoke up.

"A pity we have to sacrifice them." Baki sighed.

"It's the only way." Mari repeated.

Emma reappeared half a minute later, along with a very shocked looking Ino, and…

"AAUURRGGHH!!" Naruto shrieked. "IT'S THE CLOSET PERVERT!"

Emiyo looked disgruntled. "Hrmph. How insolent."

Emma held up her hands. "True is it may be, but he is still a powerful ninja, and power is what we need for this Uchiha Jutsu." Her eyes narrowed. "And, if need be, something to hold off our enemy until the sacrifice can be performed. But I don't think that that will be necessary."


	16. I Am Not Afraid To Die

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"I AM NOT AFRAID TO DIE"

The seventeen ninjas trooped through the forest. Temari and Kai, followed by Baki, Kakashi, Gai and Rock Lee, followed by Neji and Ten-Ten, followed by Hinata, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, followed by Zaku and Dosu, and then Shikamaru, and, last of all, trailing far behind, were Emma and Kankuro.

Emma was silent, staring at the ground as she walked.

Kankuro was staring at her.

At last, Emma said to Kankuro, as they approached the tower: "You can have the book that's in my room. It has nothing to do with Karasu, but oh well."

Kankuro couldn't answer her.

She stopped him and looked at him.

"Emma-San…" Kankuro muttered. "I…how can you three do something like this? Sacrificing yourselves to save a world that you barely know…???"

Emma sighed. "Mari and Kai have nothing left to live for, and meeting Garaa and Temari, not to mention Naruto and the whole kitten caboodle was good enough for them. And as for me…"

Kankuro waited.

She said: "I have stared death in the face so many times before. I am not afraid to die."


	17. Day Of Darkness Night Of Light

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DAY OF DARKNESS – NIGHT OF LIGHT

_Emma (her facepaint positively GLOWING), Mari (very calm) and Kai (staring at Temari), found themselves before Garaa/Moon God/Shakuku._

_It was not a very pretty sight._

_The creature was twice the size of a normal Demon Monster, and it was part Shakuku, part Moon God and part Garaa – its eyes and kanji tattoo._

_The tattoo that Mari bore shone bright red._

"_Okay guys, remember, we stick to the plan." Kai whispered, trying to control his fear. "We have to be touching the monster for the spell to work properly…"_

_The two girls nodded._

_Temari, hidden in the trees, gave a low whistle._

"_GO!" Mari cried, and the three ninjas moved._

"Heh heh, you cannot even hope to defeat me…" Garaa/Moon God/Shakuku growled. "Prepare to die…"

"AOI FIRE!" Emma cried.

The fire shot at the monster, and he blocked it with his sand.

At that precise moment, Mari and Kai latched onto opposite sides of the beast's face.

"BUNRAKU!" Emma shouted.

The Chakra strings appeared from her fingertips, pulling her down towards the enemy.

She grabbed onto the beast's muzzle and held on as it shook her head.

"Now _you_ will prepare to die…" Emma whispered, staring into Garaa's green eyes.

"Do it now!" Mari shouted.

Sasuke stood in the middle of the circle, on a mark drawn on the ground with chalk from his ninja pouch.

He began to chant the magic spell (I guess that that's what it is), as the others began to glow bright blue with Chakra, and they all joined in:

_Evil feelings in my heart,_

_Cage their death, I play my part,_

_Sacrifice these three I call,_

_Emma, Kai and Mari – burn them all…_

The three ninjas, latched onto their enemy and never letting go, howled in pain as the monster roared, as fire began to engulf their bodies. Their eyes turned black, and screams escaped from them.

Their enemy suffered just as much, as his body began to turn bright red and black.

Temari grabbed Kankuro's hand.

"It's time!" She cried.

Kankuro didn't move.

"NOW!" Temari yelled. "WE HAVE TO SAVE GARAA!"

Kankuro shook his head to clear it, and then the two of them chanted:

_Day Of Darkness – Night Of Light,_

_Help our brother win this fight,_

_Can't turn back we've come this far,_

_Bring our brother to where we are…_

A few sparkles of light appeared before them and Garaa's unconscious body materialized by their feet.

As Temari knelt down beside him, Kankuro turned to stare in horror at the deaths.

The Moon God, which was now free of Garaa and Shakuku, was an ugly, eyeless, Kanji-less beast, grey and black and brown and scabby. It was also on fire, which looked to be quite painful.

Emma, Mari and Kai were also on fire, and the other ninjas were powerless to stop this.

They could only watch in horror as the three other-world-ninjas burned.

"S-S-SAS-SUK-KE!" Mari screeched, her voice ruptured by the flames that were slowly consuming her body. "K-K-UN-NAI IN THE H-H-HEA-R-T!"

Sasuke gasped. "That's it!" He cried. He grabbed out his kunai, and threw it at the Moon God.

"NOOOOO!" It roared, in true Hollywood style, as the blade (is it?) pierced his heart (okay, I realise that I've said it and his and I'm talking about the same creature) and it smoked. It became a thick black cloud of smoke, and at once the screams ceased.

Emma, Mari and Kai were silent too.

The others waited, and held their breaths, as the smog began to clear...


	18. Don't Cry For Me

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

DON'T CRY FOR ME...

When the smog cleared, and the Ninjas of the Naruto World (it's Konoha, right?) opened their eyes, at first they couldn't see. But then, as their field of vision grew, they could make out the three slightly charred shapes in the clearing.

"EMMA!" Kankuro cried, and ran to her.

"AND KAI, OH NO!" Temari picked up Garaa, and followed Kankuro into the glade.

The others trooped after them.

Kankuro knelt beside Emma, and held her hands. "Oh no..." He wept. "What have I done to you?"

Emma's eyelids fluttered. "What everybody else did, stupid..." She smiled, and then coughed out some smoke.

Temari was gazing disconcertedly at Kai.

"Kai-Kun, you were so in love with me...why?"

Kai smiled up at her. "B...because you're...you're gorgeous..."

Temari blinked. "Well...thank...you..."

Kai's eyes closed, and he disappeared.

Next, Mari's eyes opened. "Hey..." She croaked. "Why didn't anybody say my name?"

Garaa's eyes slowly opened. "Mari-San...you're such an idiot..." He muttered, before fainting again.

Mari smiled with satisfaction. "Typical Garaa..." She said as she disappeared. "Ah, that's better..." And Mari was gone.

Emma gazed into Kankuro's eyes. "And I'm next..."

"No..." Kankuro gasped. "Please...no..."

Emma sighed, and a small breath of smoke escaped from her burned lips. "Yes...I'm going to a better place..." She paused. "Maybe, anyways, there's some things that I've always wanted to say..." She gazed at the others in turn. "Naruto-Chan, you're a hyperactive blonde bimbo and I love you for it, Sakura-San your forehead is not that big, Sasuke-Kun your brother's a hottie, Hinata-San your shyness won't last forever, Neji-Kun get of of her case because _you're_ the one with a freaky bird carved onto your forehead, TenTen-San why does your name have two numbers in it? Rock Lee-Kun you remind me of one of The Beatles and you rock, Gai-San you remind me of him because...well, he dresses and acts just like you, Dosu-Kun you look like a mummy so take off those bandages unless you've got weird facial hair in which case LEAVE THEM ON, Zaku I might say don't trust Lord Orichimaru but I know that you won't ever listen to me, Ino-San maybe you'll get Sasuke, I dunno, I'll write a fanfic and hope that some of it comes true for you, Kakashi-San you're the reason I started to watch and love Naruto, Emiyo-San, ask Kakashi to lend you his copy of Itcha Itcha Paradise, Baki-San train these three here well – oh, wait, I know that you do – Temari-San, why on Earth do you wear fishnets like a prostitute? But you're cool anyways, tell Sabaku No Garaa when he wakes up that Rock Lee can lend him some eyebrows, and Kankuro-Sama..."

Kankuro was crying.

"Don't Cry For Me..." Emma reached out and wiped the tears away. Kankuro kissed her hand, burns, blood and all. "I love you..."

Emma disappeared.

"NOOOOO!" Kankuro bent over the spot where Emma had been lying. "EMMA-SAMA! I LOVE YOU, TOO! **EMMA-SAMA**!"


	19. Epilogue

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

_A short girl skipped into her art class, and found a picture of a stern but cute looking boy in her sketch pad..._

_A tall boy logged onto his computer, and found a picture of a pretty blonde woman on his Hard Drive..._

_A pretty girl walked down to her locker. She opened it up and found a marionette puppet in there..._


	20. Glossory & Bibliography

Sacrificial Bonds

CHAPTER TWENTY

GLOSSORY & BIBLIOGRAPHY

_Songs that I've used (can I even do that???):_

_Lips Of An Angel: By Hinder_

_This Is Your Night: By Amber_

_The Game: By Disturbed_

_NEW JUTSUS:_

_MASUIKI: A traveling Jutsu, used by Emma, and it is from the Japanese word Ikimasu, that means "To Go Somewhere"..._

_. KEDIN: A healing Jutsu, used by Mari, and it is from the Japanese word Denki which means "Light" (as in light bulb, not good/pure...) ..._

_. BUNRAKU: A puppet Jutsu that connects Chakra strings from the user's fingers, used by Emma and by Kankuro, and it is from the Japanese word for Puppet, and whether it really is Bunraku or Buranku, I don't know...but it sounds good!_

_Also, I had to remove the "Hentai-Ish Scenes" as there just wasn't any room for them or Lemon/Lime, but read my fan fic Prey For My Soul if that's what you're into!_


End file.
